Previously, students wishing to wear "cross-gender" uniforms required written permission from their parents and a psychologist. Jo Dwyer, an 11th-grader who lobbied for the measure, told the Sydney Morning Herald the measure "wasn't really a possibility for some students whose parents aren't supportive of their gender identity."

Students at Newtown High School for Performing Arts when 2012 Australian of the Year, Geoffrey Rush, visited. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Twitter users rejoiced that the school was taking a step in the right direction:

To demand boys wear shorts and girls wear skirts is archaic and arcane in my view. Well done Newtown. http://fb.me/2KFpQnNSQ

So happy Newtown High School of the Performing Arts are the first Sydney school to dismiss the policy of uniforms #genderrules killnit

YAS!! This is my school! So proud! ...

The policy outraged some groups. Wendy Francis, spokeswoman for the Australian Christian Lobby, told the Herald, "To encourage a guy to wear a dress would just be setting him up for bullying."

While Newtown is the first Australian school to adopt the gender-neutral stance on uniforms, according to the Herald, the Safe School Coalition in Australia is encouraging all schools to follow suit (or dress).

"For students affirming an identity that is neither male nor female, provisions could be considered by the school for the student to wear elements of the uniform they feel most comfortable with," the coalition stated on its website.